Production and manufacturing
Commercial production can produce products in different quantities and through different means. There are five terms used in relation to manufacturing a product:
- The first working model of a design used for testing, development and evaluation. or one-off production
- Where one group of identical products is made at the same time, before moving onto producing the next group.
- When the same product is manufactured many times.
- A systematic approach to minimising waste within a manufacturing system.
- just-in-time (JIT) manufacturing
Scales of production
Prototypes and one-off production
In one-off production, an individual item is designed and made to meet a client's specification. At this level both time and material costs are high, and a high level of design and manufacturing skills is required. A custom-made or Made as a one-off product that matches the client requirements exactly. product that is made from a polymer could be made to a customer Document containing details of a product's required characteristics, and all the processes, materials and other information needed to design the product., eg acrylic signs on shops.
Batch production
Batch production is where many items of the same product are produced, such as an acrylic menu stand for use in a chain of restaurants.
It is likely that the acrylic stand would be laser cut, heated on a line bender and then left to cool in a A tool used to hold a polymer in place until it has cooled.. The jig ensures that each menu stand cools and remains in place at the same angle each time.
When a product is made in a batch, it is often far cheaper per product than when making just one. A sheet of acrylic can be bought in many different sizes - for example, if the sheet is 1000 mm × 600 mm, it can fit inside many larger A machine that uses a laser beam to vaporise material and cut out shapes very accurately. and many parts can be cut from it while it is in the machine.
Example
Assume the cost of a 1,000 mm × 600 mm sheet of acrylic is £8.00.
Therefore, one menu not made as part of a batch = £8.00
If each menu stand uses a 200 mm × 300 mm sheet of acrylic:
1,000 ÷ 200 = 5
600 ÷ 300 = 2
5 × 2 = 10
Therefore, 10 menu stands can be cut from the sheet of acrylic.
Batch of ten menu stands = 8 ÷ 10
= 0.8
One menu = 80p (in batch)
Question
If each menu stand uses a 245 mm × 290 mm piece of acrylic:
a) How many could be cut from a sheet measuring 1,000 mm × 600 mm?
b) How much will each menu cost?
Assume the cost of a 1,000 mm × 600 mm sheet of acrylic is £8.00.
a) 1,000 ÷ 245 = 4.08
600 ÷ 290 = 2.06
4 × 2 = 8
Therefore, 8 menu stands can be cut from the sheet of acrylic.
The numbers were rounded down as the 0.8 and 0.6 represents the waste material once 4 × 2 menu stands have been cut from the acrylic.
b) 8 ÷ 8 = 1
One menu = £1.00
Mass production
Manufacturing in huge numbers is categorised as mass production. This level of production involves standardised production methods, A set of tasks that come one after the other and result in an identical end product. and the extensive use of automation. Because of the high set-up costs, mass production systems tend to be inflexible. An example of mass production for polymers is blister packs that contain tablets. In this case the whole process would be automated and workers may only be used to check the product or pack it into shipping boxes.
Scales of manufacturing
Lean manufacturing
A systematic approach to minimising waste within a manufacturing system. puts a focus on efficiency to add value for a customer, simplifying manufacturing processes and reducing waste. The philosophy originated in the Japanese car industry and has since been adopted by many organisations. There are seven areas to lean manufacturing known as ‘The seven wastes’:
- over-production - producing more than is required
- transportation - the unnecessary movement of items
- over-processing - processing too soon or too much
- inventory - holding more than is required
- motion - the unnecessary movement of people
- defects - errors and mistakes
- waiting - for someone or for an event to happen
Just-in-time (JIT)
Materials or parts are delivered just before they are needed. is triggered by a customer order. The correct amounts of materials are ordered in to cover the order, and these arrive just as they are needed by production. This saves money on storage, reduces waste and ensures there is no money wasted producing stock that will remain unsold. There are disadvantages to the system in that, if any part of the product cannot be sourced, Person or organisation that wants a product manufactured, eg a retailer. have to wait for their order to be produced.
